Despite excellent conditions, the UniRoos had a rough day on the water to finish fourth in the mixed fleet sailing competition at Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia, in the Bay of Naples.
The UniRoos dropped from first overnight to fourth place after racking up 25 points in the four-round final, due in large part to a pair of last-place finishes in today’s sailing.
After heading into the final round in first with a two-point advantage it was quickly stripped away in the first race after being penalised for crossing the start line early. The team from UNSW Sydney consisting of Thomas and Jessica Grimes, Nicholas Rozenauers and Annelise Scholten, fell behind finishing 8th in the first round. After a comeback in the second round finishing 2nd they couldn’t keep the good form going finishing 8th and 6th in the last two rounds.
The team was upset with the result, but as manager Mitch Evans said, “There’s always another regatta.”
Finland took the gold medal, winning three of the four races on the final day to end on 7 points. Fourth-seeded Austria, the only team to defeat Finland on Friday, moved up two spots to capture silver thanks to a 14-point tally, while Singapore 2 held on to third position with 17 points. Singapore 1 (26 points), Russia (29), Germany (30) and Japan (32) rounded out the top eight.
Mixed fleet was the lone sailing event scheduled at the 30th Summer Universiade as the sport returned to the biennial multisport event for the first time since 2011, in Shenzhen, China.
Meanwhile, the men’s water polo dropped their final game to Croatia 12-4 in the 7th place playoff to finish 8th overall. Up against a quality opposition in Croatia, the UniRoos struggled to gain momentum early with Croatia scoring 6 first half goals to put the game out of reach. Angus Lambie (UNSW Sydney), Tom McJannett (TAFE NSW), Nicholas Elphick (University of Notre Dame) and James Gillifeather (TAFE NSW) all got on the scoresheet for the UniRoos as they recorded their best finish at the Summer Universiade since Gwangju 2015 where they finished 7th.
Article originally appeared on the UniSport Australia website.